Weekend Card Making....

I made a few more cards over the weekend that I thought I would post quickly this morning.  Here are some pics:

This is a thank you card for my parents for all they do to assist my family each week.  The butterfly is from a stamp set by Skipping Stones Design called Healing Wings.  I stamped it in brown ink on white cardstock and then colored it with a copic marker and added glue / glitter. 

I then used some maya road trim to make the "body" of the butterfly and some cake decorating flower stamens for the antennae.

  The tag and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink's "Tiny Tags" set.   I used a label spellbinders die on some basic grey coordinations embossed cardstock and sanded it to make the background for this card. 

This next card is for my son's teacher.  There are only 11 weeks left until Summer vacation!  I thought I would get a jump on a card for his teacher since I had some card-making time.  This is a set of stamps from Taylored Expressions and I just love the little school house! And the owl too!  So adorable!

His teacher gets an A+ in our books!  She is fantastic!  The alphabet background is stamped with a Glitz distressing set 3 stamp.  And I added some glitter to the windows to make it look like the lights were shining in the little school house.  My son wanted to give it to her on Friday before spring break instead of waiting until summer....we will see!  She deserves a card everyday!!!! 

Well that is it for today.  Happy Tuesday to you all!

: )  Jill

Additional entries into PTI Challenge #8

Friday night turned out to have some crafting time in it this week.  My hubbie went to his friends house for some gaming and my son was playing some computer games so I broke out some PTI stamps to play with and came up with a couple of simple cards.  I used three Papertrey Stamp sets:  Tiny Tags; Love Lives Here and Year of Flowers - Roses. 
Here are the cards I made:

I added some copic coloring to the rose on this yellow card but I really need to take a class to learn proper techniques.   After I was done I was getting ready to do this entry and looked up some of the design team cards for this set (Year of Flowers - Roses) and Nichole and others do such an incredible job with their copics that I think I will be watching some how to videos this weekend.  It is fun coloring.  I really like it but I also want to do a better job at creating depth with the markers. 

My second card is even more simple and just has the rose stamped in the corner with a tiny "thank you" tag tied on with some baby heart tassels.  I did go over the outlines of the stamped rose with a marker in a tonal color to make it stand out more but that is it.  The backgrounds of the spellbinders label die cuts on both cards were blended with both distress and versamagic inks and an ink blending tool.  They started as white cardstock and I had fun mixing ink colors to create the backgrounds.  I needed another color of yellow or an entirely different color on the first card.  I wish now that I had used some distress old paper ink around the edges of the die cut for added dimesion.  I already glued everything down so I won't fix it this time....there is always next time and I am learning with each card I make.  By the by these two cards are going to be mailed so I made them fairly "thin" and non-dimensional so that mailing won't be a problem...

Here are a couple of close up shots of the tiny tags - made with PTI sets "Love Lives Here"  and  "Tiny Tags":

I had fun making the little heart tassels to add dimension to this card.

Happy Weekend everyone!  Make each moment count! 

Jill

PTI Challenge #8 - Ink Blending Techniques

It is time for another Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  This weeks challenge (#8) is all about ink blending techniques.  This is something that I have been experimenting with more and more as my card making skills increase.  However I was still positively awed by Betsy Veldman's card in the video on Nichole's blog for this week.  Take a look here to see the video.   I started to do something similar but got a little off-track and will finish that card later. 

On to the birthday card that I did finish.... 
I needed another birthday card for a friend so I decided to try some ink blending techniques on various elements.  The card base is fairly basic with two patterned papers and a piece of lace. 

Next I made a large flower with my Tim Holtz tattered floral sissix die and began distressing the blooms by crushing them in my hand.  Then I started using some distress inks to color the edges of the flower layers as well as blend into the entire surface of each section of the flower.  Next I stamped with a "cherish" phrase stamp on the surface of the flowers before putting the flower together and adding some twine in two colors and a button.  I topped it off with some stickles.

After making the flower I also inked a heart diecut with two colors of chalk inks taking it from white to the lovely turquoise shade it is now.  I also created a patterned paper diecut and added an additional layer of paper to it and distress inked it also.  Lastly I added Riptide glimmer mist to 3 sets of leaves cut from some mint colored cardstock.  The glimmer mist added sparkle and shine to the leaves and turned them such a pretty color.   

Still feeling like I don't have my crafting mojo.  Lots happening at home right now and I am tending to only make cards I need which is harder than just making something for fun.  Plus I have the most horrendous cold this week!  Ugh!  Anyway thanks for looking! 

Enjoy each moment!  : ) Jill

A little scrap of this and a little scrap of that birthday card for my sister....

I decided to spend a little time this Sunday afternoon making another card for the PTI challenge #6 because I needed a birthday card for my sweet sister.  It surely isn't the best card I have ever made but a homemade card is always more special than store bought don't you think?

I wanted to try out my new "Just the Ticket" stamp set and the coordinating die and impression plate.  I sure do love this set but boy did I struggle with my card today.  Do you ever start a card and not know how to finish it or just have so many little things go wrong that you want to take a break?  Today I had that problem.  I just couldn't seem to make the card come out right.  I wish I had taken pictures of all my different ideas as maybe someone could give me some cardmaking feedback.  I think I am just having an off day today and the fact that I am lacking sleep is probably contributing to my lack of crafting mojo.

Anyway here are some pics of my little birthday card attempt...

I used my scoring board to make lines on the left side of the card base and the impression plate to impress the right side of the card base.

After trying lots of different tags for the sentiment I finally made one because nothing was looking right.  I made a birthday cake out of some leftover glitter paper that had been trimmed with a Martha Stewart edge punch and was sitting in my "scraps" basket on my desk.  I think it kind of looks like a cake with candles on it but my "faux" stitching is crooked and the sentiment is a little bit low and I couldn't find anything that I liked to fill in the space above it....maybe I will look for a baby stamp again later...maybe I can find one that says "Sister" in my stash.

Anyway that is it for me today.  It is 6ish and I am watching Toy Story with my son and then we are going to have bath time and an early night.  One thing I will say is that no matter how something turns out I always enjoy my time in my little crafting space in my basement - especially after having a nice walk and play time at the park earlier in the day.  It is just fun to get cozy at home on a Sunday afternoon and get my fingers all inky!  Happy Birthday to my sister Diana tomorrow!  I love you my sweet! 

Blogging off....until next time...smiles - Jill

Make It Monday Challenge #6 - Impression Plate Tricks #1

It is time for another Make it Monday Challenge from Papertrey Ink.  Challenge #6 is titled "Impression Plate Tricks #1".   You can see the posts regarding all of the PTI challenges on Nichole Heady's blog at  http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/ .  See the post for Monday March 14th for the current challenge video and post. 

I chose to use an embossing folder to go with the flower I had planned for this card as I only have 1 texture plate from PTI called "Admit One" and it did not go with the theme of the card I wanted to work on.  (NOTE:  If I have more crafting time this weekend I may make a birthday card using this impression plate and upload a second card.  I love these challenges!)

The flower is made using the Tim Holtz tattered florals sissix die with lots of stamping, inking, glitter, and a brad in the center to hold it all together.  I found some velvet leaves at my local thrift store a few weeks ago and added these to the side of the flower and used stamps from the Mat Stack 4 collection with the new banner die from PTI.  This card is another thank you note that I am sending to one of Stuart's cousins who has been helping us very generously during Stuart's illness. We are so blessed by our family and friends. 

Here are a few more pics of this card:  
 
                           

Thanks so much for looking!  I am having fun learning to make cards and the PTI challenges really help expand my techniques!  Plus they are so fun!  Have a great day!  Each day is truly a gift so celebrate it!

Smiles,

  Jill

Card Making night with my son...

Hello it is Tuesday night and my son and I were making cards together and he wanted me to post his and mine to our Greenwood Girl Cards blog. 

We used a "Pure Innocence" stamp set called Warm Fuzzies from My Favorite Things to make our cards.
My sons card has two bunny kids on it and he helped color them and I cut them out.  He made the sun with orange rays and the clouds and grass.  He picked out (and I helped him stamp) the sentiment which is from Michael's and says "All U need is Love".    We have the occasional craft night when Papa is off with the guys and it was fun making cards together.   Here are a few pics:

This is a picture of the two cards side by side.  My son's is on the right and he added the orange sunrays at the last minute.  He wanted the card to be very sunny!  Which is a good thing since it hailed, rained, showered, and poured today with thunder and lightning!  Quite something for Seattle!

Here is a close up of his card.  It was his idea to place the sentiment on the cloud and to make it two layers - the first layer is felt and the second is white cardboard tile from PTI with the sentiment.  You can't see the felt on the large cloud because it is behind the sentiment completely.

Here is a close-up of my card.  Some of the dies used are from My Favorite Stamps and some are from Papertrey Ink.  

I have one more card to share today.  This is one I made as a thank you for my neighbor and her sister who have been helping my family since my husband's diagnosis with cancer back in July of 2010.  Here are some pics:

The stamp is from Hampton Art and the flower was made using the Tim Holtz floral die and both patterned paper and tissue paper.  I made the leaves with a Martha Stewart punch and used too much stickles glitter glue to bling the card up.  The butterfly is made from the "Love Lives Here" dies from PTI.

Thanks for looking at my little card blog.  I decided to make a blog for my cards in 2010 so I could see how my skills progress over time since this is a fairly new hobby for me.   Until I blog again - be happy!  Each day is a gift!

 

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge #5 - Distressing Edges

Whoo!  I finally got a chance to sit down and make a card for one of PTI's Make it Monday Challenges.  This one is challenge #5 - distressing edges.  I have been lacking my crafting mojo the last few days because of a nasty migraine but I wanted to get a thank you card made so I pulled out some of my new stamps and dies.  I used the new Flower Fusion stamp set ( Here ) and the coordinating die to make the flowers on this card.  This is such a fun little $5.00 stamp set and so versatile! I also used the new Buttoned up #2 dies to make the flower centers.  An embossing folder created the background of diamonds and I used the new doily edge to create the "grass" at the bottom of the card.  I used a pair of scissors to do my distressing on the edges of the card and the background paper with the embossing.  After stamping the 3 flowers on my white cardstock I cut them out using the mat stack die.  I then cut several flowers with the die and popped them up on top of the stamped flowers for dimension. 

I colored the top part of the mat stack 4 diecut with my Frost Blue (B00) copic marker and blender pen to create a little bit of "blue sky" but it is hard to see in the pictures. The sentiment "a note of thanks" is from the mat stack #4 set.

Here are a few pics:

I hope you enjoyed looking at my card today.  I am really going to try and join the challenges more frequently in the coming weeks.  They are a lot of fun!   Thanks for looking!  : )  Jill

Card Supplies:

Stamps:   Flower Fusion #1 by Melissa Bickford and Mat Stack 4 Collection  - PTI
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow (edges of pink embossed paper)  Versamagic - Spring Pansy; Studio G - pink pigment ink; Archival Ink - jet black.

Paper:   Cardstock:  pre-made card: Paper Zone; Patterned papers:  My Minds Eye and Jillibean Soup.  Cardstock for doily edge diecut:  Quikcutz strips. 

Other:   Dies:  PTI; Twine:  The Twinery; Glue Dots, Ad tech adhesive, Foam "Pop-UP" Tape - dollar store. Scissors for card/paper edge distressing.  Button - craft supply

Finished Size:   Approx 4.75" x 3.5"

A card with a "BIG" element for a PTI contest...

Hello friends...today is Saturday and my husband and I took our son on a special adventure for having had a very positive and lovely week at school - just because!  We spent a lovely few hours together out and about which only happens now about every 4 weeks just before my husband starts his next round of chemotherapy.  Just before treatment starts again he always has a few days where he feels almost himself again and has the energy to get up and go places.  Today was a beautiful day and we spent a great morning together while my hubbies energy lasted.  Then we came home and are now spending the afternoon  relaxing.  This means that my sweet hubbie is asleep upstairs and my son and I are down in the basement doing laundry, crafting, and in his case playing some fun games. 

Today on Nichole's blog for PTI the contest is to put something BIG on a project.  Well I needed to make a thank you card for a lovely helping hand gift that was just given to us so I decided to incorporate something BIG into the thank you note.  I don't have very many Papertrey Ink products but I always try to use as many as I can on projects I do for contest entries.  Today I pulled out my favorite go-to stamp set for Thank You cards called "Love Lives Here" designed by Melissa Phillips.  I love this stamp set and the dies that go with it!  Which you know if you have looked at many of my blog posts in the past months.  Anyway here are some pics of the card I made:

The card base is made with PTI Aqua Mist cardstock and is covered in patterned papers from SEI and Memory Box.  I rounded the corners with my corner chomper from WERMemoryKeepers using the 1/2 inch side which I just love!

The sentiment is from the Love Lives here stamp set and says "Thank You for giving me a hand".  I love this saying especially for all the wonderful people that are currently helping my family!

Aren't those hands just precious!  Love them, love them, love them! All the new dies at PTI that coordinate with their stamps are so lovely!  Plus they make it easy to create a very nice looking card! 

My large element is a "corner" decorative element die made by Heartfelt Creations via Spellbinders. The cardstock diecuts are all from DCWV papers that I have in my stash.  Well that is it so far for today.   I have one more card I would like to make for the PTI "Make it Monday" challenge but I hear my hubby stirring so it may not get made today.  We shall see!  Either way it has been a lovely crafting 2 hours this afternoon - so rejuvenating and fun!  Happy Saturday night everyone!  Have fun!  : )

Card Supplies:
Stamps:   Love Lives Here - PTI
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow (edges of die cuts, card, hands, and scalloped border punch)  Anna Griffin - chocolate pigment ink
Paper:   Cardstock:  Aqua Mist - PTI; Patterned papers:  SEI, Memory Box, additional diecuts cardstock: DCWV
Other:   Bling: recollections/Michael's, EK Success border punch, Dies: PTI, Spellbinders and Heartfelt Creations. DMC floss, Glue Dots, Ad tech adhesive, Foam "Pop-UP" Tape - dollar store. Sanding block for card edge distressing.
Finished Size:   4.25 x 5.5

Frames anyone? A little Valentine "Friendship Jar" tag on a card for my dear husband....

Tonight I made a little valentine of love for my sweet husband.  It has been a tough year for him and our family with his brain cancer diagnosis and I wanted to make him a special valentine.  I was reading Nichole's blog over at PTI today and the post is all about the new frame stamps coming out on the 15th of this month.  I decided to play along for the prize and incorporated a stamped circle frame from their "Love Lives Here" set into the tag I designed using the wonderful "Friendship Jar" set.  I incorporated some clear "cardstock" to make the jar appear "glass-like" by die-cutting the jar once out of cardstock and the second time out of the clear plastic.  I stamped on the cardstock and then stapled the clear jar die cut to the paper one.  After making the jar tag which holds my heart and includes the sentiment "My heart is always with you" also from the "Love Lives Here" stamp set, I decided to place the whole tag onto a card so that I could give it to my husband for Valentine's Day.  Since I was trying to make the tag masculine in nature I kept the papers and diecuts on the card fairly simple.  I like the way it turned out.  Here are a couple of pics...

Unfortunately I will need to restamp and reglitter the sentiment because I thought it was dry from the heat gun that I used to set the ink and glitter but when I tied the sentiment tag onto the lid I nicked two of the letters a bit.  I think I may also be stamping on the wrong type of cardstock so I need to order a stash of Papertrey Ink cardstock since I just love it.  The card itself is made with Aqua Mist cardstock from PTI (the only color I currently own) and has patterned papers and cardstock from Crafty Secrets and DCWV.   I also used an ek success heart punch to make the border of hearts in the middle of the card.  A white gel pen and some doodle lines and heart outlines on the punched border completed this tag/card.  I am off to bed as I have been fighting a terrible sore throat and stomach ache all day today....more crafting time tomorrow maybe...nighty night everyone!

Day 6 of Papertrey Ink's Anniversary Celebration and it is all about buttons!

I was (and am!) so exicted to see the adorable button card stamp set and dies etc. being sneak peeked over on Nichole's blog for Papertrey Ink.  They will be released for sale on the 15th of this month.  The sneak peaks from Nichole and the design team are inspired and beautiful and Michelle Wooderson's idea with Nichole's design input makes for some beeeeaaaauuuutttifulllll button-magic!  I tried my hand at making a project with some buttons to join in the fun today.  I made a birthday tag to put on my sister's birthday gift next week.  Here are some pictures:

The gorgeous tag is cut from the tag sale #3 die from papertrey ink - Here.  This is my favorite tag die!  I just love the little embossed dot border around the outside!  It just adds the perfect extra touch!

The beautiful large butterfly was cut from a die from Marianne Designs (purchased at CuddlyBuddly.com)
I hope someday Papertrey Ink makes some more butterfly dies as they are so fun to add to projects.
The smaller butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch I have had for years!

The heart bling is from Amuse Art Stamps which has a store near my home and is one of the first crafting products I ever bought for cards.  Love hearts of all kinds!

The buttons are from my stash and are one of my favorite colors- turquoise.

The cardstock is also papertrey ink and is called Aqua Mist!  I love it!!!!  You can see all of PTI's cardstock by clicking:  Here

The Happy Birthday tag at the top of the larger tag was made with the "Just the ticket" stamp set from Papertrey and was stamped with the only pink ink I have.  It doesn't match quite right but until my budget allows for me to purchase some more inks from PTI I am stuck with what I have.  Anyway it will do for this little birthday tag!  At least it blends with the butterfly but it may have been better for me to just use black ink with a pink tag....but no time to play some more and make it look better...so it will do for now!

I actually only had a few minutes tonight to read the Anniversary post for today and pull something together for the contest.  I did so tonight after giving dinner to my men after a long day of treatments with my dear hubbie and a playdate after school with my son and his friends on a beautiful sunny afternoon.  I am now off to gargle away my sore throat and then it is to bed- tomorrow is Friday and I get to be home all day aside from school runs!   My hubbie and I are both looking forward to it!  Weekend relaxation here we come! 

A little birthday card for my sister

The other night I made a sweet but very simple card for a Papertrey Ink contest but my husband wasn't feeling well and I did not get to upload it in time to enter it into the contest.  So tonight I am posting it after the fact.  It is a birthday card for my sweet sister.  Her birthday is right around Valentine's Day so it has a little heart doily on it.  It also uses a free Anniversary design from Nichole's blogpost at Papertrey Ink:   pti-anniversary-tag-download pdf  .  There are great images on this download that can be used over and over again for card making.

The images are made to fit a 1.75 inch circle punch which I do not own currently.  So I cut the image by hand the best that I could...it is sort of vintagey and imperfect but the card still turned out cute.  Here is a quick pic (the only one that turned out on the dark day I took it) and then I am off to hopefully make a couple of thank you notes using the wonderful color combos on today's papertrey ink blog post.  You can see all the anniversary posts here on Nichole's blog for Papertrey Ink:  Papertrey Ink Blog

Here is my sweet little card....for my sweet little sister....shhh don't tell her about it as I won't be mailing it out to her for a few days!
Supplies:
Doily:  stash
Patterned paper:  K & company - Sweet Nectar Line
Tag: K & Company
Adhesive:  Glue Glider Pro - High Tac cartridge; glue dots
Bling:  Recollections
Sentiment circle:  papertrey ink free pdf- see link in post above
Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Crafts

Happy Anniversary to Papertrey Ink! Love, love, love your company and design team!

Today I am going to repost one of my favorite cards using papertrey ink products.  This is my first year using Papertrey Ink products.  I saw a card in a magazine using their stamps and decided to check them out online one day and I fell in love!  I love their stamps, their ink, their cardstock (which I just ordered for the first time a week or so ago and am just starting to use) and most of all their dies!  I am impressed with their service and the way they package their high-quality stamps!  I know I will be a customer for life!

This year my favorite product has to be the stamp set "Love Lives Here".  I love the verstility of this set!  There are so many uses for the stamps and the sentiments and the dies which have already made it onto several of my scrapbook pages too.  While I am still learning how to "design" and have a long way to go before I will feel that I am 'good' I still enjoy trying my hand at being creative.  It takes my mind off of my husband's illness and also allows me to make thank you notes for all of the people that are helping us out in our time of need.  This stamp set from papertrey ink along with the Crafty Secrets "Little Blessings" Creative Scraps which I also found this year have allowed me to send off some lovely thank you's to all the special people in our lives who are helping us right now.  So thank you Papertrey Ink and Crafty Secrets!  I love your products! 

Here are some of the cards I have made this year using Papertrey Ink's products...

I think the first card is my favorite of all because it seemed to turn out the best though I also like the last one.  I am still learning how to make cards so each one helps me grow a little.  The important thing is that I have fun making them and I get to send them to all my family and friends that are helping me out!  What could be a better reason to sit down and play with some ink, stamps and cardstock!  Again - thanks Papertrey Ink!  What a wonderful company full of amazing people doing what they love!  I am blessed to have found you this year!  Happy Anniversary!

Some Thank You cards...

Gratitude! Gratitude and Thankfulness!  That is my theme of the day today!  And I have some new cards to show for it too!

Wow - it has been quite some time since I posted!  I have been busy with lots of financial and insurance issues for our family over the past couple weeks since the New Year!  Today, though, I had time to make some cards to send as Thank You notes to some very special people who have been helping my family out during a difficult time.  I am so very grateful for my friends and family!  Here are the cards:

The sentiment on the front is "From my heart to your home" and on the inside:  "Thanks for giving me a helping hand".  Both sentiments are from a new set from Papertrey Ink which I will like too in my next card.  My son wanted to emboss the other night with the heat gun and embossing powder so I had him emboss the birdhouse stamp  in white and the sentiment too so it would match.  It turned out quite well for a 6 year old doing it!  Embossing can be a little bit tricky! LOL!

Here are some additional shots of the same card....

I colored in the birdhouse with my water-color pencils to add a touch of light color to it.

This next card uses the same sentiments and the small house diecut which are both from Papertrey Ink's December 2010 release titled "Love Lives Here".  Love Lives Here Stamp Set - with concepts by Melissa Phillips.  This is my current very favorite stamp set and I am using it a lot!!!

It has matching dies which you can see here:  Dies: Love Lives Here Collection.  I adore the butterfly and the hand too!  So cute and versatile! I love it!

I added the chimney with a piece of the same paper I die cut the house with and made "glitter" smoke coming out of it....a nice touch I think and makes it feel all snuggly and warm!

This card I made twice - once for my friend Julie and Skip and Family as Skip just lost his Father recently and once for my friend Leanna who just lost her husband Jerry.  Jerry and Leanne are Tim's adopted Aunt and Uncle and always send him the most adorable Hannah Anderson Christmas Pajamas each year along with lots of other goodies.  They are very generous and giving and sweet people and all I know is that heaven just received a wonderful new angel in Uncle Jerry!

 This last card uses an Inkadinkado set which is where the adorable polka dot heart and sentiment come from.  The die is from My Favorite Stamps and can be found here: Dienamics Decorative Doily Die


                                     
I just love the soft purple colors of this card....so fun to have something cheerful on a dreary morning...
This one uses a die from My Favorite Stamps:  Die-namics Decorative Doily Die.  I just love how this one die can totally dress up a card!  They have wonderful stamps too! 
Well that is it for cards today.  I have 3 more thank you cards still to make but this is all I am going to post for now.  I am still learning how to make good cards but each one I make allows me to get a little bit better at this fun craft!  Plus I get to send homemade cards to all my family and friends for different occasions.  Thanks for looking at my little blog!

:) Jill